Effects of Handbag Width and Material on Hand Pressure Force and Comfort

• Main Authors: ZENG,JIAN-MIN, 曾建閔
• Other Authors: WU,CUN-YU
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/67242128548875973641

碩士 === 聖約翰科技大學 === 工業工程與管理系碩士班 === 99 === The hand bags on the market are variety, and each of them has own characteristics. Most people only concern the color and shape when choosing the hand bags and they ignore whether it may cause discomfort and even hurt users′ hands after a long period use or not. Previous studies have shown that improper posture or excessive force that sustained a long period can cause carpal tunnel syndrome and cumulative trauma of hand bones.Some scholars had research of the bag handle shape, therefore this study focused on the relationships among handle materials, hand grip diameter and hand pressure. According to the previous researches the best grip span is 7-7.5 cm, and the most comfortable grip diameter is 5 cm for the column grip. This research set the range of the grip span within 7 cm. During the experiment, the first of all the preliminary trial was proceeded with 3 subjects. Ten different grip materials were needed from the market, and in formal experiment, this research adopted the pressure distribution measurement system to find out the significance from five materials which were chosen by preliminary trial. Twelve subjects were invited from St. John's University, and the experiment was proceeded in the constant temperature laboratory. The students who participated in this experiment were needed to be none of any disease history related with hands. They were also clearly informed about the experiment content and process before proceeding in this experiment. Bag weight was set to be 3 Kg. For controlling of the constant weight, the different handle materials were used to carry the same bag. The total trials were lasted 360 minutes and the students needed to fill out a subjective questionnaire after the experiment. The experimental data was inputted and sorted by Excel to analyze the data for understanding what kind of material was the most suitable, and it could the minimize the hand pressure. The result of this study reveals that the 3cm- aluminum material is the minimum of pressure value. Aluminum is one kind of soft material that has certain supportive, that it can fit to the curvature of the fingers and attach well to the palm to spread the pressure to be even. Smaller hand pressure should be felt more comfortable when carrying hand bags and should cause less cumulative trauma to hands.